Modeling simulated damage?

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LioZac0261
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Modeling simulated damage?

Post by LioZac0261 » Wed Jun 25, 2014 6:55 am

I have a few Bachmann freight cars that were given to me when I was 7 years old, and now, all these later, I've finally decided to put them to good use on my railroad.

As you can imagine, they weren't in the best shape. I've replaced most of the damaged parts, and only a few grab irons and hinges are bent or missing.

I'm modeling a small, short-line railroad, so these cars would've been prototypically second-hand. Trying to stay as realistic as possible, has anyone modeled damage to their old rolling stock? Are there any good reference photos online?

As an aside, my cat began weathering the cars for me. One of her hair balls stained the roof of my boxcar, and it was sitting like that for a decade.
Zach

West Side Lumber Co., Wappoo Creek R.R.

CHARLESTON, S.C.

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laalratty
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Post by laalratty » Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:53 pm

I suspect reading a few topics on this particular part of the forum will give you a few helpful ideas, in particular ideas for weathering, and just how far to take it.

*Edit, as an example, this I think is a fine piece of work, but I would think the weathering needs to suit what the stock is simulating, ie metal would go rusty, wood would start rotting or maybe have peeling paint etc
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Post by Big Jim » Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:07 pm

Look at how things get bashed and damaged in the real world.
Levers get bent and broken. Any thing that gets handled or walked on will suffer with worn paint.
Any door or hatch will suffer with scuffing from over enthusiastic loading. (look at any old open wagon or trailer and you will see lots of dents or damage where things have 'missed')

And anything that has been anywhere near a forklift truck or tele-handler will have been bashed to blazes in some very strange places.
(Nothing personal against FLT drivers but I watched a pair of forks being pushed through a lorry side today!)
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Andrew
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Post by Andrew » Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:48 am

I reckon Jim's right about working out where the damage would be on the real thing.

I roughed up a cheapo Hartland bogie open a few years ago, hacking away at the tops of the sides and ends, and the uprights too, to replicate where bits of wood have been chipped away during loading. I painted the whole lot, inside and out in a wood colour (more silver/grey in reality than you'd think, certainly more so than I managed) and then added the "top coat" in thin washes, wiping it away to represent areas where the paint had worn away and leaving the inside (and chipped bits) as bare wood. I added rust on the metal parts, including downward streaks across the planks from protuding bolt-heads (that worked particularly well) and added some general grime all over too. It's not perfect, but for what it's worth you can see it here, next to the guard's van:

Image

Enjoy your weathering!

Andrew.

PS I've got a personal rule that I should only weather stock in natural light. I don't always stick to it, but often regret it when I don't!

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Soar Valley Light
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Post by Soar Valley Light » Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:26 pm

Andrew,

That's a great looking train. What make is the van in front of the bogie open?

The tip about working in daylight is a very good one, artifical light plays terrible tricks.

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Post by Andrew » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:23 am

Soar Valley Light:102084 wrote:What make is the van in front of the bogie open?
Ah, there's a slightly convoluted history behind that one, going back to the early days of my involvement in 16mm... The Mamod set I purchased at the age of 13 came with a guards van (the one in the picture) and a closed van. After a while I realised that opens were much more common on the narrow gauge than closed vans so I pinched the van's running gear to go underneath a simple scratchbuilt open wagon body. I've still got it and although basic it has a certain charm, particularly the round (Southwold-inspired) ends - unfortunately it's never run well because when I reassembled it I didn't get the axles parallel, and so it hasn't seen any use for a couple of decades!

Anyway, the discarded metal van body sat about for a couple of years, during which time I constructed several opens - and so thought I'd like a van again. The old Mamod body came out of the scrap box and I added wooded planking from the wider lolly sticks they sell in craft shops, plus a whole load of wooden strip and track pins. The doors slide open in plastic channel but have always been a bit wonky! Running gear's Brandbright I think...

Again, it's a little basic, but characterful enough, and it runs well so still sees fairly frequent use. It's my only van, and will remain so until I build some WHR ones...

So there we go - a fairly long-winded way of saying that I knocked it up from bits and bobs!

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Post by kandnwlr » Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:46 am

Simulated damage? I´ve got the real thing from failing to replace the connecting bridge on the K&NWLR :oops:

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IrishPeter
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Post by IrishPeter » Fri Jun 27, 2014 4:46 pm

I like to rough up the corners and top planks of open wagons as they would get a lot of abuse one way and another.  However, I have seen drop sided ballast wagons with quite a pronounced "divit" in the  lower plank thanks to it having something dropped on it when down.

Opens seem to be dominant in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the NG, but most southern Irish 3' lines had more covereds than anything else, the exception being the Cavan and Leitrim latterly - say - after 1919 - when the Arigna coal traffic started in earnest.

The wagon type I see most on Norwegian NG is what they call a "stake car" around here.  It has pockets on the side into which you jam stakes so you can carry a load of pipes or logs.  Latterly they used steel stakes which had a tendency to bend gently outwards after a while.  In Norway, they even used them for carrying containers - not modern ISOs, but the old railway type - which could be lifted easily from SG to CAP gauge railways at the transhipment points.  At one time, Norway was a bit convoluted in railway terms, as East of Oslo was SG, but Oslo Vest station was CAP gauge as were the lines on that side of Oslo. Gauge conversion started c.1900 with the construction of the Bergensbanen, but Oslo Vest was not converted to SG until around 1919-22.  

I have not quite got the long lived Swedish systems - the VHVJ, for example - figured out yet, but latterly loaded a lot of timber, and not much else as general merchandise had tended to desert the rails for the roads.  Swedish NG stock tends to be pretty big even though they usually ran on Swedish three foot gauge, not the 3'6" of Norway.  I suspect that the brutal curves on a lot of Norwegian NG lines had a lot to do with it.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ
Traffic Pattern? What pattern? Spuds out; grain in, but cattle, sheep and passengers are a lot less predictable.

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Soar Valley Light
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Post by Soar Valley Light » Fri Jun 27, 2014 9:50 pm

Thanks Andrew,

That's very interesting and not at all the answer I expected. It's certainly a cracker and given me some food for thought.

Sadly that's all it will be for now - I need to build a railway to run on first! :?
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Post by Peter Butler » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:24 pm

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Andrew, apart from admiring your weathering on the open wagon, I'm also impressed by the ballast on your line. Please let me know what you used and whether it stands up to the changing climate?

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Post by Andrew » Fri Jun 27, 2014 10:48 pm

Peter Butler:102124 wrote: Andrew, apart from admiring your weathering on the open wagon, I'm also impressed by the ballast on your line.   Please let me know what you used and whether it stands up to the changing climate?
That's the old line, and the ballast was a Rowlands Mix of some sort, sorry can't remember the details. The slight air of decrepitude is added to by the painted concrete blocks having weathered too... That was there for a couple of years and held up OK I think.

The track in the same spot (but a foot lower) on the new line is the only bit I've ballasted so far, again using a Rowlands-ish Mix. I only ballasted it last summer and I've forgotten the details already, but it's mostly readymix mortar with fine granite chippings from B&Q (great stuff I reckon) and some dried sieved earth - I still owe my wife a new sieve... When I do the next bit I might add more earth I think - when it's wet it looks lovely, and it stays that way for days after rain, but it looks a bit pale when very dry. That's only been in place for one winter and looks OK, although you can see where it's lifted at the edges in places so next winter's frosts might lift and crack it. Bristol frosts tend not to be too bad, guess we get a similar amount of rain as you over in Wales?

I'm half thinking about a different approach to ballasting on my new section of line which is built on decking boards and so liable to movement. I'm guessing anything too rigid and wondering about something flexible. I've read mentions of SBA(?) and wonder whether that might be some sort of miracle substance...

Hope that's useful,

Andrew.

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Peter Butler
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Post by Peter Butler » Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:01 am

Thanks again Andrew, the miracle product you mention is SBR which is a bonding agent for cement mix. It is designed as a water resistant additive which has some built-in flexibility. It will not act as an adhesive in its own right (I've tried and failed!)
However, I think I will try a sort of Rowlands mix with fine slate dust and chippings, possibly some cement colouring additive to take away the whiteness when dry, all damped with a solution of PVA and SBR.
And if that doesn't work...... there's always model boats!!!!

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